Announcements - DataTables forumshttps://datatables.net/forums/
Sat, 10 Dec 2016 01:03:24 +0000Announcements - DataTables forumsen-CADataTables 1.7.6 releasedhttps://datatables.net/forums/discussion/4310/datatables-1-7-6-released
Wed, 02 Mar 2011 22:57:34 +0000Announcementsallan4310@/forums/discussions
It is with great pleasure that I can release DataTables 1.7.6. This is a bug fix release of DataTables, which will likely draw the 1.7.x series of releases to a close (unless anything really serious is found!) so work can begin in ernest on the next major update.

DataTables 1.7 has proven itself in terms of stability, and this release increases that standing by fixing a number of small bugs and little niggles. I've been taking DataTables to its limits recently (and enjoyed it immensely!) and found a few little things which needed to be tidied up along the way. This release includes those fixes and a few other minor changes.

The latest release package (which includes all of the latest plug-ins including the newly releases ColVis 1.0.1, ColReorder 1.0.4 and TableTools 2.0.1) can be downloaded from here:
http://datatables.net/releases/DataTables-1.7.6.zip

Documentation as always is available on this site as a whole, particularly the usage and API sections:
http://datatables.net/usage
http://datatables.net/api

Release notes are available on the download page:
http://datatables.net/download

Finally, if you are using DataTables and find it useful, please do consider making a donation. These donations allow me to continue developing DataTables: http://datatables.net/donate :-)

Enjoy!
Allan]]>
TableTools 2 released!https://datatables.net/forums/discussion/3726/tabletools-2-released
Tue, 04 Jan 2011 18:25:30 +0000Announcementsallan3726@/forums/discussions
I'm absolutely delighted to be able to release TableTools 2! It's been quite a while in coming, but the code is now complete, the documentation is online and the download is primed and ready for you to hit!

Check out the examples:
http://datatables.net/release-datatables/extras/TableTools/

And download the source (stick it in the DataTables "extras" directory):
http://datatables.net/releases/TableTools-2.0.0.zip

Documentation:
http://datatables.net/extras/tabletools/

Some details:
TableTools 2 is a complete rewrite of the original v1 software providing _much_ greater flexibility of the buttons TableTools can set up and including a couple of great new features. The first of those features is user row selection - when initialising TableTools you can now select a 'single' or 'multi' (the default is 'none') row selection, allowing easy interaction with the table. The other major new feature is PDF export. While the visual appearance of the file is quite basic, it can be modified as you need using the TableTools source.

Despise these new features, the real "meat" in TableTools 2 is it's super configurable buttons. TableTools 2 is now a real toolbar for DataTables which can be extended to provide custom buttons beyond the default ones so easily now. There are also a lot of built-in button types which can be readily extended to do exactly what you want.

Possibly the best part of this release is that TableTools now has detailed documentation ( http://datatables.net/extras/tabletools/ )! Actually, with this release all first-class plug-ins for DataTables enjoy the same level of documentation as DataTables itself! :-)

If you happen find any issues with TableTools 2, please open a new thread with the details there (so we don't have overlapping conversations here).

Finally, if you are finding DataTables / TableTools or any of the other software on this site useful, please make a donation. These donations allow me to continue developing DataTables, TableTools and everything else here:
http://datatables.net/donate

Enjoy!
Allan]]>
ColVis v1.0.4 releasedhttps://datatables.net/forums/discussion/4309/colvis-v1-0-4-released
Wed, 02 Mar 2011 22:52:02 +0000Announcementsallan4309@/forums/discussions
Along side the other releases I've been working on recently is an update to ColVis, which is now up to v1.0.4. This new release of ColVis sees a couple of new features, new examples and a number of bug fixes. The biggest new feature is the addition of a 'restore to original state' button (bRestore). There is also now a callback function for ColVis to let you know when a column's state has changed, which can be useful for controlling multiple tables with the same columns, as shown in one of the new examples ( http://datatables.net/release-datatables/extras/ColVis/two_tables_identical.html ).

This latest release can be downloaded from here (or the downloads page):
http://datatables.net/releases/ColVis-1.0.4.zip

Full documentation is available here:
http://datatables.net/extras/colvis/

Enjoy!
Allan]]>
ColReorder v1.0.1 releasedhttps://datatables.net/forums/discussion/4308/colreorder-v1-0-1-released
Wed, 02 Mar 2011 22:49:04 +0000Announcementsallan4308@/forums/discussions
I'm very pleased to be able to release an update to ColReorder. ColReorder has been on version 1.0.0 since October last year now, and this release fixes a couple of little bugs which have cropped up since then. The main one is that ColReorder now works correctly with jQuery UI theming in DataTables. This release also includes a couple of new demos showing ColReorder in action.

This latest release can be downloaded from here (or the downloads page):
http://datatables.net/releases/ColReorder-1.0.1.zip

Full documentation is available here:
http://datatables.net/extras/colreorder/

Enjoy!
Allan]]>
TableTools 2.0.1 now availablehttps://datatables.net/forums/discussion/4257/tabletools-2-0-1-now-available
Sat, 26 Feb 2011 16:20:28 +0000Announcementsallan4257@/forums/discussions
I'm really pleased to be able to release TableTools 2.0.1. Although a minor version number, this release includes a couple of great new features and a number of important bug fixes.

New features include the ability to customise the selection class used for the row selecting options in TableTools, the ability to customise saved PDFs a bit more (title, message, page size and orientation. There is also a new API method (fnResizeButtons and it's companion fnResizeRequired) which will resize Flash buttons if needed (for example if initialised in a hidden element - i.e. a tab). Finally for the new features there is 'bSelectedOnly' for the copy, and save buttons which allows the output to be limited to only selected rows if set to true.

In terms of bug fixes, there are two important fixes: firstly collections could suffer from not being able to save a file more than once in IE, the second fix addresses the use of save buttons in collections which could under certain circumstances cause some browsers to freeze.

Download:
http://datatables.net/releases/TableTools-2.0.1.zip

Examples:
http://datatables.net/extras/tabletools/examples

Full documentation:
http://datatables.net/extras/tabletools/

As always, if you enjoy using TableTools / DataTables please consider making a donation - these donations allow me to continue developing and supporting this software :-) - http://datatables.net/donate

Enjoy!
Allan]]>
FixedColumns - v1.1.0 releasedhttps://datatables.net/forums/discussion/4201/fixedcolumns-v1-1-0-released
Sun, 20 Feb 2011 08:31:02 +0000Announcementsallan4201@/forums/discussions
I'm very pleased to be able to release the next version of FixedColumns, which includes a fair number of updates and new features:

- Columns can now be fixed from the right as well as the left!
- Scrolling is _much_ faster when x or y scrolling (still working on improving it for when scrolling both directions)
- Multiple rows in the THEAD and TFOOT element are now supported
- New examples: http://datatables.net/extras/fixedcolumns/examples
- Bug fixes

- Documentation:
http://datatables.net/extras/fixedcolumns/

- Download:
http://datatables.net/releases/FixedColumns-1.1.0.zip

DataTables and it's plug-ins are made possible by your donations. If you find this software useful, please consider making a donation ( http://datatables.net/donate ) so it can continue to be supported and developed.

Enjoy!
Allan]]>
Feedback request for API improvementshttps://datatables.net/forums/discussion/4123/feedback-request-for-api-improvements
Sun, 13 Feb 2011 19:29:04 +0000Announcementsallan4123@/forums/discussions
I've been thinking about what I would like to do for DataTables 1.8 recently, and one of the key features I'd like to improve about DataTables are its API methods. As always with APIs any changes need to be considered carefully in order to ensure that the upgrade doesn't completely break existing applications. As such, I would like to request some feedback from you all. I do not wish to make changes such as renaming functions or moving parameters around (a major break in the API I would call 2.0), but what I do propose is:

- Making the API functions apply to all table elements in any array of DataTables objects (effectively removing iApiIndex). So for example if you use oTable = $('.datatable').dataTable(); which matches 3 tables and then oTable.fnFilter('hello'), that would filter all three tables. What I propose in order to allow single initialisation and individual table API control is two fold - 1. the object retrieval that is currently present (meaning you could actually do single initialisation and multiple API control), and 2. add a new API function called 's' (for selector, possibly fnSelector would be better...). This way you could do something like oTable.s(':first').fnFilter('hello').

- Anywhere a node can be passed in (for example in fnAddData), you should be able to pass in either a jQuery object (with whatever selector has been used and the resulting nodes) or an array of nodes.

- Harmonisation of redraw options - I'm considering dropping the automatic call to redraw the table on all functions (for example fnFilter would need to be followed by a call to fnDraw), or including it in all functions. Function aliases could potentially be used for this.

It is with great pleasure that I can release DataTables 1.7 beta! A lot of work has been put into making DataTables more flexible and easier to work with for you the developer, and also adding a number of key new features which will be visible to the end user.

A full list of new features, descriptions and instructions on how to use them can be found here: http://datatables.net/new/1.7 . Furthermore, upgrade instructions are available here: http://datatables.net/upgrade/1.7 - for more applications 1.7 will be a drop in replacement, but check these notes if you run into any problems.

As well as new features, there are a number of bug fixes, updates and performance improvements. Full release notes: http://datatables.net/download .

If you are finding DataTables useful, please consider making a donation so I can continue to develop DataTables software like this 1.7 release: http://datatables.net/donate :-)

Enjoy!
Allan]]>
datatables plugin for web2py (Video)https://datatables.net/forums/discussion/3736/datatables-plugin-for-web2py-video
Wed, 05 Jan 2011 14:57:47 +0000Announcementsrochacbruno3736@/forums/discussions
I made a video demosntration on how it works -> http://vimeo.com/18447603

Bruno Rocha
http://about.me/rochacbruno]]>
Supporthttps://datatables.net/forums/discussion/1942/support
Thu, 13 May 2010 22:26:52 +0000Announcementsallan1942@/forums/discussions
At times (when you are reading this post is likely one of them!) you will want support with a DataTables specific issue. Be it an integration problem, CSS formatting, a Javascript error - whatever, it can be very useful to have support at hand. DataTables has a fantastic and growing community in this forum (and blog posts around the web etc) of very knowledgeable people, so please post your question in the forum and allow people to respond.

DataTables is an open source project run by just one person for the love of creating high quality software. Unfortunately (although it is not a bad thing!) the popularity of DataTables has got to the point now that I am unable to personally respond to every support request in the forum.

If you require or want support for DataTables, please post your question in the forum and then click the 'Support' button at the top of the page to make a donation. I'll answer your question as promptly as possible. The donation amount should be whatever the support question is worth to you - there is no fixed amount (although support packages might be considered in the future). Also please indicate the forum thread ID of your post in the support form. This allows me to track and prioritise support requests for which a donation has been made.

I will try to read all posts and take pro-active action if I believe there is a bug in DataTables - there is absolutely no question of the core software being unsupported!

Regards,
Allan]]>
DataTables 1.7.5 releasedhttps://datatables.net/forums/discussion/3596/datatables-1-7-5-released
Wed, 15 Dec 2010 22:23:23 +0000Announcementsallan3596@/forums/discussions
I'm very pleased to be able to announce the availability of DataTables v1.7.5! There are a number of items worth noting in this new release, but the primary one is the re-written sorting algorithm that DataTables uses. You'll find it to be much more efficient, particularly in IE.

Other improvements include a number of bug fixes and tidy up points, as well as the introduction of a new initialisation parameter bScrollAutoCss - this allows you to control the scrolling styles via CSS rather than having DataTables do it automatically. Also of note is that the column visibility options will now take into account multiple rows in the header and footer.

And finally, if you are using DataTables and find it useful, please do consider making a donation. These donations allow me to continue developing DataTables: http://datatables.net/donate .

Enjoy!
Allan]]>
DataTables 1.7.4 releasedhttps://datatables.net/forums/discussion/3216/datatables-1-7-4-released
Sat, 30 Oct 2010 09:57:51 +0000Announcementsallan3216@/forums/discussions
I'm very pleased to announce the latest release of DataTables - v1.7.4. This release includes a number of bug fixes in DataTables itself and general maintenance of the various support libraries, examples and packages. This release also includes the latest version of all first class plug-ins for DataTables, and the bundle includes the new ColReorder plug-in.

And finally, if you are using DataTables and find it useful, please do consider making a donation. These donations allow me to continue supporting and developing DataTables: http://datatables.net/donate

Enjoy!
Allan]]>
DataTables and ASP.NET MVC 2https://datatables.net/forums/discussion/3089/datatables-and-asp-net-mvc-2
Mon, 18 Oct 2010 17:29:27 +0000Announcementsjohannes3089@/forums/discussions
I started a project on codeplex to support DataTables with the usage of ASP.NET MVC 2.
Have a look at
http://datatablesmvc.codeplex.com
for further information.

Johannes]]>
ColVis - v.1.0.2 releasedhttps://datatables.net/forums/discussion/3082/colvis-v-1-0-2-released
Mon, 18 Oct 2010 10:39:31 +0000Announcementsallan3082@/forums/discussions
I'm pleased to be able to release a minor update to the ColVis plug-in for DataTables which addresses a couple of issues which have been brought to light with the previous version. There a now new features in this release, just a couple of welcome bug fixes :-).

Download: http://datatables.net/releases/ColVis-1.0.2.zip

Enjoy,
Allan]]>
FixedColumns - v1.0.1 releasedhttps://datatables.net/forums/discussion/3081/fixedcolumns-v1-0-1-released
Mon, 18 Oct 2010 10:37:30 +0000Announcementsallan3081@/forums/discussions
Thanks to the discussions that we've been having on this forum for FixedColumns I'm pleased to be able to make this update release, which addresses a number of issues that were found since the original release. Specifically, this release focuses on matching row height when cloning the columns and cross browser compatibility.

Download: http://datatables.net/releases/FixedColumns-1.0.1.zip

Enjoy,
Allan]]>
Updated downloads page / nightly buildshttps://datatables.net/forums/discussion/3005/updated-downloads-page-nightly-builds
Sun, 10 Oct 2010 16:06:31 +0000Announcementsallan3005@/forums/discussions
I've been doing some work on the build systems that I've got in place for DataTables, and one of this things I wanted to do is provide an easier way to get updates for DataTables and it's plug-ins. As such, I've updated the downloads page ( http://datatables.net/download ) to show information about DataTables and it's first class plug-ins, allow you to download the source, the "compiled" source and view release notes, for both the current releases and the nightly builds.

Obviously on production systems you'll want to use the stable release, but there might be times when you find an issue with a release which has been addressed already, or want to make use of a new feature. This makes it that bit easier :-).

Also to stay up-to-date, there is the DataTables release feed: http://datatables.net/rss.xml , where announcements about new releases are made.

Enjoy!
Allan]]>
DataTables 1.7.3 releasedhttps://datatables.net/forums/discussion/2921/datatables-1-7-3-released
Thu, 30 Sep 2010 23:17:49 +0000Announcementsallan2921@/forums/discussions
I'm very pleased to announce the release of DataTables 1.7.3. As you would expect from a minor version number bump, this release is all about the bug fixes and small improvements. No new features as such in this release, although the package does have FixedColumns and ColVis included with it now.

And finally, if you are using DataTables and find it useful, please do consider making a donation. These donations allow me to continue supporting and developing for DataTables: http://datatables.net/donate

Enjoy!
Allan]]>
DataTables 1.7.2 releasedhttps://datatables.net/forums/discussion/2761/datatables-1-7-2-released
Tue, 14 Sep 2010 21:47:25 +0000Announcementsallan2761@/forums/discussions
I'm really pleased to be able to release DataTables 1.7.2. The focus in this release is mainly on bug fixing what has been brought to light since the last release. Each bug fix in this release has had unit tests committed with it to ensure that it won't crop up again, and DataTables now has a suite of more than 1400 units tests - which will continue to grow as each new feature and fix is included.

However, stabilisation isn't the only exciting thing here - the really fun one is infinite scrolling: http://datatables.net/examples/basic_init/scroll_y_infinite.html . Building on the ability of DataTables 1.7 to do scrolling, infinite scrolling allows data to be loaded and drawn dynamically as a user scrolls through a table. This can be really useful for large datasets, and even better it requires no modification to your server-side scripts (indeed, it works with either client-side or server-side processing).

Also new with this release is the ability to give an element created by sDom and ID by using a hash (for example: "lftip"), and an improvement to how jQuery UI themed headers are dealt with for easier and more accurate positioning of the sorting icons.

And finally, if you are using DataTables and find it useful, please consider making a donation. These donations allow me to continue supporting and developing for DataTables: http://datatables.net/donate

Enjoy!
Allan]]>
AutoFill - new plug-in (now v.1.1)https://datatables.net/forums/discussion/2699/autofill-new-plug-in-now-v-1-1
Tue, 07 Sep 2010 17:31:23 +0000Announcementsallan2699@/forums/discussions
I'm very pleased to be able to release a all new first class plug-in for DataTables: AutoFill. AutoFill gives an Excel like option to a DataTable to click and drag over multiple cells, filling in information over the selected cells and incrementing numbers as needed. Easiest way to explain it is with an example:
http://datatables.net/release-datatables/extras/AutoFill/index.html

AutoFill will take account of input elements in the table and allows you to select which columns you want it to be available on. AutoFill requires DataTables 1.7 or newer.

Download (place the extracted package into the "extras" folder in the DataTables distribution for have the paths match):
http://datatables.net/releases/AutoFill-1.0.0.zip

Thanks to Phoniax AS ( http://www.phoniax.no/ ) for their sponsorship of this plug-in for DataTables! If you've got any ideas you'd like developed into a DataTables plug-in, please do get in touch ( http://datatables.net/contact ).

Regards,
Allan]]>
DataTables 1.7.1 releasedhttps://datatables.net/forums/discussion/2581/datatables-1-7-1-released
Sun, 22 Aug 2010 16:33:55 +0000Announcementsallan2581@/forums/discussions
The first bug fix version of the 1.7 DataTables series is now available, and addresses a number of issues which have been brought to light since the 1.7.0 release (the full list of bug fixes can be found in the release notes).

In addition to the bug fixes, there are two new features in this release, both of them callback functions. The new fnCookieCallback function allows customisation of the state saving cookie, while fnInfoCallback allows detailed manipulation of the information element's text string.

If you are using DataTables and finding it useful - please consider making a donation to help maintain and support DataTables in future: http://datatables.net/donate

Regards,
Allan]]>
DataTables 1.7 availablehttps://datatables.net/forums/discussion/2421/datatables-1-7-available
Sun, 01 Aug 2010 20:06:56 +0000Announcementsallan2421@/forums/discussions
It is with real pleasure that I can announce the availability of DataTables 1.7.0! For those wanted to get on with it immediately:

Please note, if you are using regular expression filtering in DataTables, there has been a change to this interface in 1.7.0. Likewise the internal data cache 'aoData' has changed slightly to no longer allow null values. Please read the upgrade notes if you use either of these features!

In a bit more detail: DataTables 1.7 has been planned more or less since the moment 1.6 was released, and as been under active development for the last three months. It has three primary new features:

- Object retrieval - you can use the DataTables initialisation function to retrieve the object that was originally created for the DataTable (so you don't need to keep global variables any more).
- Column definitions - the aoColumns array was very rigid before, requiring exactly the right number of entries in it (often with many 'null's to make up the numbers). While this is still available, aoColumnDefs is now available to allow targeting of specific columns.
- Scrolling - A DataTable can now be placed into a scrolling viewport.

In addition to these new features, there are a number of smaller ones which aim to make your life as a developer much easier, bug fixes and code tidy up. Indeed it is worth noting that DataTables 1.7.0 when minified, is actually smaller that 1.6.x due to the use of Google's excellent Closure compiler!

I would like to extend a huge thank you to all of those who have been beta testing this new release of DataTables, and reporting bugs back to me. Thanks also to everyone for suggesting enhancements which can be made to DataTables!

Finally, if you are finding DataTables useful - please consider making a donation towards it's continued development: http://datatables.net/donate :-)

Enjoy DataTables 1.7!

Regards,
Allan]]>
DataTables 1.7 beta 8 releasedhttps://datatables.net/forums/discussion/2412/datatables-1-7-beta-8-released
Fri, 30 Jul 2010 08:55:18 +0000Announcementsallan2412@/forums/discussions
One more beta... Three trivial bug fixes included in this new beta, but I'd rather have them checked out in a beta release than in the 1.7.0 release!

And as always please donate to help keep DataTables under active development: http://datatables.net/donate :-)

Regards,
Allan]]>
DataTables 1.7 beta 7 releasedhttps://datatables.net/forums/discussion/2398/datatables-1-7-beta-7-released
Thu, 29 Jul 2010 08:50:30 +0000Announcementsallan2398@/forums/discussions
One more beta before the stable 1.7.0 is released (I hope - please say if you find any bugs!). This is a little bit of a code tidy up, with a couple of little bug fixes included. I don't believe that any new bugs have been introduced, but it is always good to sanity check before making a stable release! If nothing comes to light in the next few days, this release will be progressed to 1.7.0 stable.

Regards,
Allan]]>
DataTables 1.7 beta 6 releasedhttps://datatables.net/forums/discussion/2373/datatables-1-7-beta-6-released
Sun, 25 Jul 2010 16:41:15 +0000Announcementsallan2373@/forums/discussions
I'm really pleased to be able to release DataTables 1.7 beta 6. This release sees a number of bugs which have come to light in previous releasing being addressed, with an eye now on the 1.7.0 stable release.

Please continue beta testing, and letting me know of any issue you encounter. Baring any major upsets, the next release will be 1.7.0 :-)

Regards,
Allan]]>
DataTables 1.7 beta 4 releasedhttps://datatables.net/forums/discussion/2279/datatables-1-7-beta-4-released
Mon, 12 Jul 2010 20:51:44 +0000Announcementsallan2279@/forums/discussions
After a lot of beta testing (thank you to everyone who has taken part are reported issues back to me!) and a lot of work on this new release, the next beta version of DataTables 1.7 is now available. I have high hopes that we are now not far aware from a stable 1.7.0 release, so please do continue to test and let me know of any problems!

New in this release:

- Significantly improved alignment of columns when scrolling the tables
- sScrollXInner is a new initialisation property which allows you to specify the width of the table inside the scroller (this in instead of setting the width of the table to be too width)
- Data is automatically trimmed when read in, which makes data type detection that little bit easier
- HTML type columns are now automatically detected
- A number of bug fixes, optimisations and stabilisations

Thanks again to everyone who has helped to contributed to make this release possible. I'm really proud of where DataTables is going, and the superbly helpful community that we have here. I've still got lots of ideas for the future of DataTables, so plenty more to come after 1.7's release, if not necessarily in the core... :-)

And of course, if you are finding DataTables useful for your job, or whatever you are using it for, please consider donating so I can keep supporting and developing DataTables: http://datatables.net/donate :-)

Regards,
Allan]]>
KeyTable v1.1.6 releasedhttps://datatables.net/forums/discussion/2375/keytable-v1-1-6-released
Sun, 25 Jul 2010 16:52:31 +0000Announcementsallan2375@/forums/discussions
In preparation for the 1.7.0 release of DataTables I've brought the KeyTable up-to-date to support the scrolling feature available in DataTables 1.7. Indeed this is the only change in this new release of KeyTable. As the focused cell moves, the scrolling of the table will be adjusted as needed to keep that cell fully visible. Note that this change in backwards compatible with previous versions of DataTables - this new release does not require 1.7.x.

Regards,
Allan]]>
FixedHeader v2.0.3 releasedhttps://datatables.net/forums/discussion/2374/fixedheader-v2-0-3-released
Sun, 25 Jul 2010 16:49:08 +0000Announcementsallan2374@/forums/discussions
This release of FixedHeader serves as a dual announcement - firstly, FixedHeader will not be supported with scrolling in DataTables 1.7. Secondly, the actual code change in this release is simply that FixedHeader will give a warning if you attempt to use it with scrolling to alert you of this fact.

It is important to not that FixedHeader is supported by 1.7 and will continue to be a "first class" plug-in for DataTables, it just will not support scrolling.

The reason for this decision not to support FixedHeader with scrolling in DataTables 1.7 is two fold:

- To some extent the scrolling feature and FixedHeader solve the same problem. The basic issue is how to show a large set of data to the end user in a manner they will find it easy to understand. FixedHeader does this by moving the header as you scroll, scrolling does this by moving the content as you scroll. The exception to this is if the user selects to view '100' (or whatever) records at a single time.

- It would require a major effort to re-engineer the FixedHeader code base to support this interaction, significantly increasing the complexity of the code, due to how the DOM is manipulated by DataTables. That is not to say that it is impossible, indeed far from it - but that this time it is not considered to be a high enough priority when there are many other DataTables engineering tasks to be carried out. If this is something you want to be looked at in future, please indicate so in this thread :-)

Download: http://datatables.net/releases/FixedHeader.2.0.3.zip

Regards,
Allan]]>
New API plug-ins and server-side processing scriptshttps://datatables.net/forums/discussion/2168/new-api-plug-ins-and-server-side-processing-scripts
Mon, 21 Jun 2010 20:40:39 +0000Announcementsallan2168@/forums/discussions
I've done a little work recently implementing plug-in API functions which have been asked about in the forums recently, and will hopefully prove to be useful for some of you when using DataTables:

fnGetNextTr - get the next or previous TR element based on a given one, taking account of filtering, sorting and paging - http://datatables.net/plug-ins/api#fnGetAdjacentTr

fnSortNeutral - restore the sorting order as it was read in from the data source - http://datatables.net/plug-ins/api#fnSortNeutral

Thank you to everyone for your contributions to the DataTables community - it's a pleasure to have such a great community building up around DataTables!

Regards,
Allan]]>
Plans for DataTables v1.7 and beyondhttps://datatables.net/forums/discussion/1486/plans-for-datatables-v1-7-and-beyond
Tue, 02 Mar 2010 18:24:33 +0000Announcementsallan1486@/forums/discussions
While bug fix version are good (v1.6.2), and you want to be using stable software (who doesn't!) it is at the same time a little boring ;-). So I'd like to talk a little bit about my thoughts for v1.7 and get feedback from all of you who are using DataTables. v.1.6 hasn't been out for long - but it's quite stable now and I'm happy with the optimisations that have been made, particularly in 1.6.1.

So v1.7:

1. Reuse of the selector - at the moment you need to keep a copy of the DataTables object created by the initialisation (I tend to use 'var oTable') to make use of API function. I'd like to introduce a method by which you could do something like this:

[code]
$('#example').dataTable( { ... } );
$('#example').dataTable().fnAddData( ... );
[/code]
This would same messing around with global variables etc. One thing to note is that it will not be possible to reconfigure a table by passing in different options the second time the initialisation is called! As such, you will need to either pass nothing, or an object with a flag set to indicate that you know this will happen. Otherwise a warning will pop up like it does in 1.6.

2. aoColumns change - one real pain at the moment in DataTables is it's need for aoColumns to exactly match the number of columns in the table - giving 'null' when you don't want any special settings. I'm not 100% sure how I'm going to specify this yet, so that will be presented in future.

3. Destructor API function - fairly simple. Call this and it will return the page to how it was before you initialised DataTables.

A couple of other nice things. :-)

Beyond DataTables 1.7 there is still a wealth of opportunity for where it can progress. A much stronger plug-in structure would be the main point for progressing to v2 while keeping the main feature set more or less the same (don't want the core library to become to large - it's about right where it is). At the same time there are a load of plug-ins and developer tools (like KeyTable, TableTools and FixedHeader which we already have) that could be developed for DataTables.

Obviously the key ingredient here is time, v1.7 won't happen over night, and anything beyond that is a case of wait and see. Also the support balance needs to be addressed, as noted in the "Support levels" thread. Obviously if you want to sponsor any specific feature - work want someone working on DataTables and it's plug-ins full time ( ;-) ) ping me!

Here is to the journey!

Regards,
Allan]]>
Updates to web-sitehttps://datatables.net/forums/discussion/1757/updates-to-web-site
Tue, 13 Apr 2010 21:22:10 +0000Announcementsallan1757@/forums/discussions
It's been in the works for a while now, but I've finally completed a number of updates to the DataTables web-site and the documentation available on it.

In summary:

- There is now a site wide search (at the top of each page)!
- Support requests now have their own request form / page
- The home page has a "news" section
- Each plug-in page now has a "how to" section to ease introduction to plug-ins
- Various other tidy ups

In a bit more detail:

Site wide search - this makes searching the site much easier thanks to Google custom search. The engine also indexes the forum, so relevant questions and answers will be displayed alongside the main documentation.

Support requests - while still not a formal process (I prefer an open and accessible one!) this does make requesting support for a specific problem with DataTables much easier. Simply enter your question in a forum thread, and then fill in the support form with the thread ID and a donation amount you feel is suitable for your question. The thread will show up in my session (not publicly) as paid for support - thus allow me to give it priority.

DataTables news - On the DataTables index page there is now a 'news' listing where I will post links to the various blogs around the web which are highlighting DataTables and doing interesting things with it. Please let me know if you have written about DataTables so I can include it in the news:
- News page: http://datatables.net/news
- News feed: feed://datatables.net/rss_news.xml

Plug-in "how to" - In order to make the various plug-ins a little more accessible for first time users of DataTables, each plug-ins page now includes a "now to" section describing how the plug-in type can be integrated with your web-site. For example here is the API "how to": http://datatables.net/plug-ins/api#how_to